New and with a big problem :(

Hi, this is not a very nice first post but we're desperate for help.

We have 2 cats that we adopted from a rescue centre about 3 years ago. They're mother and kitten and have always got on fine. They have the occasional playfight but nothing aggressive until last night.
At about half 3 they were making the most awful racket, really fighting, hissing and making other nasty noises. They stopped when we put the lights on and followed them but then this morning it has carried on. It's the kitten (well she's 4 but you get the idea) who's got all the agression and attacked and chased the mother out of the room again and down the stairs.
We've ended up shutting the kitten in one room and letting the mother have the run of the house but this morning my partner went to stroke the mother's head and found a claw stuck in it.
We've rung the shelter where we got them from and apparently they don't re-home mothers and kittens together anymore because of this problem, but that doesn't really help us as we've had them for nearly 3 years and are very attached!
Has anyone ever worked through this problem?

When anything happens out of the ordinary like this, it's best to take the kitten to the vet to get checked out incase theres something wrong?, but i would be taking mum also to make sure theres no infection where the claw got stuck in

Please don't give up on either of them just yet. Like you say your attached to them now, and theres bound to be a reason as to why this has just started to happen.

Maybe mum just gets more attention, and the kitten got jealous? Just a thought... But like Rosiemac said, go to a vet and check them both.

The kitten gets loads more attention. Even when we try and play with mum with a laser light on the floor she only has a few seconds before kitten comes charging in and takes over.
The shelter said maybe it could be that kitten is either wanting to play more and mum doesn't, or she's trying to make herself the "top cat".
We'll get them to the vets though.

My two wrestle and chase each other, and sometimes one will give the other one a quick bite, but sometimes they get carried away and bite that little bit too hard which makes the other cry out a bit. That's normal, but if it's a full on fur fight i'd be a bit concerned, but then that's just me

Let us know what happens though.

I've a similar situation. I've a cat, Kit, who I rescued from the front flowerbeds not long after she was born. She did grow up with her mom but once she was old enough I made her and indoor cat and she grew up with my male cat, Friday. She probably can't remember a time when she didn't know him as I introduced them before she was totally ready to be away from her mom. She recently turned 4 and has been displaying aggression to Friday when she used to dote on him. In her case, I defiantly think she's asserting herself as alpha-cat (which is complicated by our other male who thinks HE'S the alpha (it's really fun in my house some days)). I do find that separating her and giving her some play time on her own helps. Especially if I can wear her out throwing toy mice. I also have to make time for my boys. Finally, once some of the edge is off I encourage them all to play together by pulling out every cat toy known to man, catnip, and card board boxes with little holes cut in them so they can stick their paws out. We make forts out of chairs and blankets too. This usually serves to ease a lot of tension here but it does require a commitment from me! I hope you find a solution that works great for your kitties! Please post back and let us know how it goes.

I forgot to say that they are indoor cats due to us living on a fairly busy road.

We're just trying now to get an appointment at the vets tonight and see if it's anything physical. I've never found myself hoping that there's something wrong with one of our cats.... but it's better than the prospect of losing them both if they can't live together anymore.

Originally Posted by lufc_vic

if they can't live together anymore.

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I bet they can live together. You'll just have to make some adjustments and see what works.

Well the vets have no appointments empty tonight but one of them is going to be giving us a ring after we described what had happened.
I'll keep you up to date

Right now I've a 12 week old kitten that actually likes to push my 3 year old male around. Nothing serious, once in a while the older male gets fed up and hisses, but he won't hurt the kitten and vice versa. I think they're just working out the pecking order.

If they've gotten along for 3 years, something might be up, or maybe the kitten is trying to become dominant. In any case, I definately wouldn't give up on them yet, especially since it's only happened this once. Are they still fighting now?

The baby is still shut away. Apparently she's looking grumpy and sat at the bottom of the scratching post tower. Mum is hiding behind the settee, also looking grumpy.
I don't know whether to re-introduce them before we hear from the vet. It was quite stressful for Mum this morning, she left a little trail of wee to where she ended up

Hiya

Please keep us posted!

Hopefully it is something whcih can be sorted, I would tend to think that maybe something has triggered this as you have had them together for a good while now and it just suddenly started. Not sure but keep us posted

Claire

xxxxxxx

Originally Posted by lufc_vic

The baby is still shut away. Apparently she's looking grumpy and sat at the bottom of the scratching post tower. Mum is hiding behind the settee, also looking grumpy.
I don't know whether to re-introduce them before we hear from the vet. It was quite stressful for Mum this morning, she left a little trail of wee to where she ended up

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hello, just wondering if both cats are neutered?
also, are there strays hanging round where you live? sometimes, that will trigger some hostility.

also, I hear good things about feli-way. friendly cat pheromones you know...

Be sure to mention that trail of wee to the vet. It could have just been a fear/stress response, but whenever a cat pees somewhere other than the litterbox, there's a chance that there is a bladder/urinary problem going on.

Sometimes a healthy cat will pick on a sick cat.

Originally Posted by happy cat

hello, just wondering if both cats are neutered?
also, are there strays hanging round where you live? sometimes, that will trigger some hostility.

also, I hear good things about feli-way. friendly cat pheromones you know...

Click to expand...

Yep they were both neutered by the rescue place we got them from. There's no new cats in the area, but they are indoor cats anyway and can only really see out of the front of the house whereas the neighbourhood cats are on the streets behind.
We have one of the feliway plug ins, it's currently in the room where baby is shut in.

Originally Posted by beandip

Be sure to mention that trail of wee to the vet. It could have just been a fear/stress response, but whenever a cat pees somewhere other than the litterbox, there's a chance that there is a bladder/urinary problem going on.

Sometimes a healthy cat will pick on a sick cat.

Click to expand...

The earliest we can get into the vets is next Wednesday! I'm pretty sure it was a fear response because she's never done it before or since. They drink a fair bit of water and have wet food every day so it shouldn't be a urinary tract problem, fingers crossed.

have you guys ever noticed when something is going on and you start thinking about rehoming or putting serious thought into doing something suddenly that that particular cat becomes so sweet. this is what's happening with Nuit. Now I don't know if it's do to my sudden schedule change (I was home all the time and am now working). Suddenly she is just the sweetest thing. the same thing happen with Ceasar when we were thinking about finding him a home as he likes to bully jenny, and it use to be really really bad.

Well they're pretty much just avoiding each other at the moment, and when they do cross paths there's a bit of hissing and growling but at least there's no fighting (fingers crossed).

They can get infections without going outside - bacteria come in on your clothes, or in the air. Same as fleas. I would guess that there is something physical going on and that the smell of the momcat has changed as a result. The kitten no longer recognises her as the same cat. As a temporary measure try putting a few drops of vanilla essence on each cat, on the back of the neck, under the chin and at the base of the tail. That will make them smell the same, and see if it changes anything.

Well they're still together for the time being. There's been no more full on fighting. They spend most of the day apart.
When they both end up in the same room they stare at each other for a while then Baby does this little meow which makes Mum hiss and usually run away, and then she gets chased!
They were nose to nose this morning, smelling each other without any problem so I really don't know where this will end up!